If in fact our government has issued instructions to look into annulling the Oslo Accords should the Palestinians unilaterally declare a state at the U.N. General Assembly in September, as Haaretz reported Monday, it would not be wild speculation to imagine our National Security Council giving the following response: After a careful examination of the matter in all its complexity and after thorough airing of the issue with the Foreign, Defense and Justice Ministries, we have concluded that the Sept. 13, 1993, Declaration of Principles was in fact annulled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of his first term in office. As the Knesset's opposition leader in 1993, Netanyahu vowed to annul the accords if and when he became prime minister. Two weeks before the 1996 elections, he shifted his stance, pledging to fulfill Israel's international obligations on his own terms. Once elected, Netanyahu coined the now-famous slogan: If they give they will receive. If they don't give, they won't receive. But the Palestinians did not give, at least according to Netanyahu, so he did not give in return. Both sides had agreed to hammer out a final status agreement on May 4, 1999, but on that day, the sun rose, the birds chirped as usual, and not a thing changed. The Oslo Accords established the institution known as the Palestinian Authority, along with the Donors Conference and a series of Palestinian institutions. The accords granted the Palestinians partial self-rule in 40 percent of the West Bank and established joint security operations between the two sides. Also according to the accords, 39 specific areas changed hands from the Israeli military to Palestinian control. No one believes, even for a moment, that the prime minister wishes to turn back the clock and reinstitute direct Israeli control over Palestinian health services, sewerage, housing and roads. Nor does anyone suspect he wants to collect taxes from Palestinians for these services or bring back the sundry taxation, agriculture and health officers of the civil administration bureaucracy. In that sense, the Oslo Accords were Israel's most successful diet of the 1990s. The question of whether or not to annul the Oslo Accords is best answered with a no comment, or even a denial. After all is said and done, the people who are really weighing that possibility are the Palestinians. It is worth noting that during a meeting with Palestinian diplomats in Turkey, Dr. Saeb Erekat once again raised the idea of returning the keys to Palestinian cities to the United States so that the Palestinians could not be accused of collaborating with Israel on security or any other issues. Annulling Oslo is actually the worst possibility the Palestinians can threaten us with. The minute we reveal that we are seriously discussing the possibility, they might just jump on the bandwagon. That's the last thing we need.
Oslo is already here
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
